Translation Principles - Accuracy
between Languages

NO one ever really talks about this, unless you really have
worked on a translation you just don’t really know or think
about this. It is the nightmare no translator wants to
discuss. Accuracy is how well did the translator take a
single Greek word and translate it uniformly into the same
English word(s) throughout. Some Greek words actually have
multiple meanings, but even then was each meaning rendered
uniformly? Without computers, this is almost an
impossible task. Even with computers this is a massive
undertaking. No one living has a brain that is good at
translating and photographic enough to remember 5500 Greek
words or has 50 years to do this; (which by nature the
beginning would not match the end in 50 yrs anyway.)

A Greek Interlinear doesn’t necessarily have any better
accuracy than a Bible translation. Accuracy drops off
dramatically in all translations once you leave the
following list: Modern Literal Version, MLV, Young's
Literal Version, LYT, Concordant Version, American Standard
Version, ASV. Accuracy is almost non-existent in Dynamic or
Free Style (paraphrasing the Greek) or Paraphrases of
English to English. Translators understand this but because
it is way too much work, they just don’t do it. Single
person versions like Young’s and Concordant since they are
translated book by book by the same person have slightly
better accuracy. But then they have other flaws because of
being single person translations. Robert Young did a poor
job of Present Active verb tenses and a few Greek idioms; so
far all the modern revisions of YLT didn’t fix them either.
The Concordant Version used a fair amount of classical Greek
definitions for Koine Greek words.

Tyndale’s translation had almost no accuracy because he
actually tried to write it in English prose. The 1611
King James Version did very few corrections and was 92
Tyndale's. Then the 1769 Cambridge Edition of the King James
Version (the one currently used by millions) again did few
fixes. Of the literal translations the King James version is
the worst as far as accuracy goes.

The Modern Literal Version is the only modern translation
that truly attempted this uniformity. The MLV did also
one step further by doing the opposite (something totally
unheard of before the Modern Literal Version existed and
still is in 2012) rendering an English word for only one
Greek word. An Appendix was used to help describe some of
the words which have an * (asterisk) on them when just not
enough English words to go around.

The best example of this is the mistranslation in almost
every translation from Tyndale’s up to now of the Greek word
‘teleo’ in Revelation 20:3, 5, 7. This word is Strong’s
number 5055 in Aorist Passive Subjunctive 3rd person
form. Which is ‘may be’ or ‘might be’ and one of the
following words ‘finished’ or ‘accomplished’ or ‘ended.’

Modern Literal Version correct in all three places: ‘might
be finished’
Young’s Literal Version correct in all three places: ‘may be
finished.’
Concordant Version basically correct in all three places:
‘should be finished’
American Standard Version in 20:3&5: ‘should be
finished’ 20:7 ‘are finished.’
King James Version 20:3 ‘should be fulfilled’ 20:5 ‘were
finished’ 20:7 ‘are expired.’
(With this bad translation and the ‘again’ which has no
Greek manuscript counterpart in 20:5 you can see why so many
‘millennium’ teachings exist. But this type of discussion is
expanded later.)

The Greek word ginomai Strong's number 1096, about the most
diverse word in the Greek New Testament, not counting
various tenses is 7 English words in the Modern Literal
Version, about 15 in the American Standard Version, 40 in
the King James Version, 42 in the New American Standard
version.

In closing, if words in the Bible are rendered more
uniformly, Bible truths become more evident.